Hamstring worry for De Guzman

Swansea midfielder Jonathan de Guzman has suffered a World Cup injury scare in the week Holland are due to fly to Brazil. But national boss Louis van Gaal is hopeful the problem is not serious and intends to give the 26-year-old as long as possible to prove his fitness.

De Guzman, who has been on loan at Swansea from Villarreal for the past two seasons, suffered a hamstring injury in training for Wednesday's friendly against Wales in Amsterdam.

There is no chance of him making that game but he will remain with the squad to travel to Rio on Thursday morning.

Van Gaal, speaking at a news conference at the team's training base in Santpoort, said: "Today he felt something in his hamstrings and therefore I stopped the training session, as we were playing 11 v 11. Now we have to wait and see in the coming days whether it is bad or not so bad. Hopefully it's a light injury.

"We will wait a couple of days and then we will be able to say what it is.''

The injury is a blow to De Guzman just as it seemed he had earned a place in Van Gaal's side, having featured in last weekend's friendly victory over Ghana.

He was born in Canada but qualified for Netherlands on residency grounds having moved to the country at the age of 13. He began his professional career with Feyenoord and made his international debut in January last year.

Van Gaal said: "De Guzman has earned his position in the team. He had a rather good game against Ghana. I liked him. I said it to him. So now I have to adapt and play another player in his position (against Wales) which is always not so good.''

Van Gaal claimed not to have thought about an alternative plan should De Guzman be forced to miss the World Cup. The 62-year-old, who will take over at Manchester United after the tournament, said: "I don't expect that because it didn't look that bad.''